Blue Nose Marathon Weekend - Halifax, N.S

May 15-17, 2009

Blue Nose Marathon Weekend - Halifax, N.S., May 15-17, 2009
Submitted by Lynne Atkinson


This race weekend offers several lengths for any distance runner - marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K with kit pick the day before and early morning of the race in the Convention Centre beside the start line. Nothing notable about the expo so I will skip over that. Originally I was slated to do the full marathon for Team Diabetes but when I knew I would have family join me, I switched to the half marathon (it's a 9:00 a.m. start time). Mainly, I didn't want them waiting around for too long and in hindsight, I'm glad I switched. Here's why: For those who have never been to Halifax, it is rich with maritime lore, enjoying a longstanding history of acting as one of the main gatekeepers of our eastern shores. It has always been an important port city and like many along the Atlantic and St.Lawrence waterways, shares a similar geography. Anyone who has visited Quebec City or St. John's will see that Halifax is no different in that once you begin to venture inland from the water, you encounter some pretty sharp inclines as you move away from the shore. As one gentleman said to me today, remarking about the race, Halifax is "the city of hills". It is no wonder the race shirt itself says "Surely what goes up....." (Right? It does come down, doesn't it? Um, no. That happens in science. Not Halifax.) To make a long story short, this is one hilly course. In an up kind of way.

The weather was overcast and cool which was nice for running. After the cold damp and rain of ATB in March, where I ended up with a bad chest infection afterward, I vowed I was not going to run in that weather again but this wasn't the same. It wasn't cold or rainy, just grey and cool. The start/finish is the same for all races, right at the top of a hill next to the Citadel, a historic fortress where the British held the French at bay. I don't think the British really needed firepower because I can't see anyone pushing a cannon up that hill anyway. But I digress. The races then veer off in their own directions. I am not familiar with the shorter courses so I'll stick to describing the half marathon course. Keep in mind that Halifax and Dartmouth are separated by the harbour with a bridge back and forth and the full course takes in both sides over the 42k stretch. However, the half stays on the Halifax side only and is chock full of uphills. Did I mention that?

From the start, it's fairly level with a couple of downhill spots as you near the 2-3 km mark. Don't get sucked in. This is only a tease. You pass the Naval Yard where you can catch a glimpse of the ships and then stay along the waterfront for quite a ways (ok I know "quite a ways" really isn't a race distance). Then it's mostly uphill from there. There were water/gatorade stations every 4 km (some with gels later) and good marshalling by volunteers as well as Police. I stayed with the 2:15 pace bunny for most of the first 11km at which point you run along a pretty flat street all the way into Point Pleasant Park for a loop around there. The 2-ish kms inside the park is all uphill on a gravel trail. I kept wondering when it starts to go downhill but it never seemed to...that's where I fell off the wagon. My legs were hurting and I couldn't keep up with that cwazy wabbit. I tried, but I ended up doing a lot of walking for the next few kms.

Once out of the park, you run back along the same flat road and through some streets, again most of which had slight gradual inclines. At this point there were no real steep uphill sections but I never got the feeling that I was on a decline either. I realized why the race shirt said what it did. It wasn't until about the 18km mark that I felt some decline on the road which lasted about 1-2 kms. As I mentioned, there were only a few spots of forgiveness on this course where it seemed to ease up.

Finally at about the 20km mark, you begin another, more noticeable incline to the finish line. Of COURSE the finish line is uphill, silly. How did you think this story ends? You can see the chute and the crowds as you make your way up the road and I had to give it that final push to the end. I ended up about 8 minutes past my best time, which was fine with me, considering the challenge this course provided me. I thought I had taken longer so I was glad about that.

Overall, it was a good experience although I found myself vowing that my next race will be in Saskatchewan. But I'm glad I got the experience of running the Blue Nose. Oh, and in case you're asking....do you know how the name Blue Nose originated? (No the ship came later). Years ago, when mariners went out to sea to brave the cold, wet, icy North Atlantic, the sleeves of their peacoats often made suitable substitutes for handkerchiefs. And when they returned to port, their noses were stained blue from the dye of their coats. It is in these sailors' honour that this race is run.